| This dissertation reviewed existing conceptualizations of urbanization patterns and processes and presented a conceptual model that situated urban change in the context of institutional-spatial structures and historical-material conditions. According to this model, urban development patterns are shaped by the intersection of: (1) institutionalized local social relations and material conditions, (2) the various and simultaneous configurations of linkages connecting local and external interests and institutions, (3) and the definition of the discourse around real and imagined opportunities that arise from seemingly random or unforeseen events. The model was applied to examine housing issues and long-term residential recovery following the Northridge earthquake that hit Los Angeles in 1994. A set of spatial and statistical analyses tested the relationship between demographic and housing characteristics of places, access to residential assistance, and long-term recovery outcomes. This was complemented by in-depth analyses of recovery processes and outcomes in three cases studies: Canoga Park, Crenshaw, and Santa Monica. The study showed that post-disaster recovery programs in the United States do not adequately address the wide range of housing needs that result from a major disaster in a large metropolitan area. Findings indicated that areas with high levels of socially marginalized populations were at a disadvantage in accessing federal residential assistance and experienced less favorable recovery outcomes. Variations in recovery processes and outcomes were also associated with variations in pre-existing social and material conditions, differences in local and state institutional arrangements, and levels of community organizing and local leadership. Local activism and informal institutional relations offset and reversed institutionalized developmental barriers. |
